Infertility Treatment – Overcoming challenges in my life
Infertility and infertility treatment can be a huge taboo for people to talk about!
We all face challenges in our lives. Some big, some small. Life is never easy all the time! I want to share some of the struggles that I have overcome in my life. Hopefully, these will be things you can relate to.
The main reason I am open about the following issues is to break the taboo around these subjects. The more we talk about things the less of a problem they are.
My 2 big life challenges so far:
My fertility journey – I’m a mother to 2 amazing daughters. However, it was a long 10yr journey to complete our family. Infertility is still a taboo subject even though so many couples experience it. To say it was an emotional rollercoaster is an understatement. I had a lot of tests, was poked and prodded, and then told our infertility was ‘unexplained’.
Desperate for a child of my own.
I was desperate for a child of my own. Questions from family, friends, and even complete strangers enquiring when I was going to get pregnant astounded me. It was (and still is) a deeply personal question to ask someone. Our (expensive) IVF journey resulted in 2 healthy girls. I’m extraordinarily grateful and count my blessings daily. It frequently doesn’t end this way for many couples. I credit acupuncture, homeopathy, hair mineral analysis, supplementation and other CAM therapies for helping my dreams to come true.
PND and mental health issues – I suffered from Post Natal Depression (PND) after both child birthing experiences. The first time lasted 6 weeks. The second time it lasted much longer and was more severe. I had tried to put strategies in place to help avoid it, but ironically these made it worse. At its peak, I was self-harming, not washing, eating or sleeping. I write this not for sympathy but to demonstrate how powerful mental illness can be.
I asked for help.
I accessed NHS PND counselling and took a short course of prescription anti-depressants, even though I was not keen on these. I was lucky enough to be able to see 2 separate private counsellors each week. These 2 women re-built me. Over an 18mnth-2yr period, I worked on myself and grew stronger. I’m now a ‘2.0’ version of my previous self. I have tools and systems in place to make sure that this kind of breakdown doesn’t happen again. Life is not always easy but now I can deal with it properly.
Contact me if any of the above resonated with you, or you need any emotional help.
I have also been a guest on Lee Lam’s podcast, ‘Journey through the Guilt trip’. I talk about my mental health journey and how guilt affected me. You can listen to it here:
https://liveguiltfree.podbean.com/e/the-guilt-free-friday-interviews-with-neela-prabhu/
